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What It Has. 
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COURT HOUSE. 



e 



This Pah ph let, 



f^REPARED hy the CHAMBER OF COM- 
MERCE, an organization in no manner 
connected with speculation nor speculators, is 
believed to he in all its statements correct and 
truthful. The FACTS concerning FT. SMITH 
make an argument that needs no embellish- 
ment. The 

CLDSEBT INVESTIDATIDN 

By Manufacturers, Business^ Men, Capitalists 
and Good Citizens is Courted,\and specific infor- 
mation will be cheerfully furnished by the 

CHAMBER OFICOMMERCE, 

FORT SMITH, ARK. 




FORT SMITH 
ARK. 



5 



Its History. 



Its Commerce. 



Its Location. 



Itself. 




^ 



CFORT * SMITH, -^ARK,^ 



•j'^. ^ 

*w^ 



HISTORICAL. 

|N 1817 the Government established a military post at the 
conlluence of the Arkansas and Poteau Rivers, and called 
it Fort Smith. The border merchant, attracted by the 
profitable traflSe with the Indians and the safety afforded 

by his country's flag, soon settled around the fort, and the 

embryo American city was started. 



MILITARY. 

The Seventh Regiment of Infantry remained at this place 
until 1825, by which time the small civil settlement had grown 
slightly in the number and considerably in the quality of its 
inhabitants, and the post was considered a pleasant one both in 
army and lay circles. In this year one John Rogers purchased 
several hundred acres of land from the Government, and found the 
first profitable real estate investmentof the locality, for in 1836 the 
Government found it must have a reservation about its fort, and 
bought back a part of the land at an increased price, and Rogers 
laid out the remainder in a town-site, from which all newcomers 
had to secure lots. The town was christened "Belle Point" by 
its proprietor, who was doubtless led in his selection of the name 
by an artistic appreciation of the beauty of the location ; but, 
though appropriate, that name was not adopted by the practical 
citizens who grappled more successfully with the equally eupho- 
nious if not so artistic name of Smith, or Fort Smith, and the 
baptismal name would now be quite forgotten were it not applied 
to one of the handsome school edifices which adorn the town. 



Fort Smith, Ark. 
TRADING POST. 

Fort Smith struggled along as a frontier trading-post for 
many J ears, gaining importance during the Mexican War when 
many of the troops and Government supplies were sent to the front 
by this route, being brought up the Arkansas River by boat to 
Fort Smith. In 1871 the garrison was removed further west to 
Fort Gibson, but Fort Smith, the town, was then firmly estab- 
lished, and with overland stage routes to the far west, large 
steamboats plying regularly between Cincinnati, St. Louis, New 
Orleans and Fort Smith, she continued to grow slowly, until in 
1880 the census reports show her to have had 3,000 population. 



FIRST RAILROADS. 

The Little Rock & Fort Smith Railway was the first railroad 
connection, being completed to Fort Smith in 1876. It was fol- 
lowed soon after by the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway, which 
gave a decided impetus to Fort Smith trade, and from 1880 to 
1884 her population was more than doubled. Meanwhile, the 
Government having removed its fort and having no further use for 
the reservation purchased from John Rogers (except that small 
portion upon which the Federal Court having jurisdiction over the 
Indian Territory was located, and the jail in which the prisoners 
were confined), donated this 360 acres of land to the city of Fort 
Smith for public school purposes. The value of this gift may be 
appreciated when it is stated that less than half of the land has 
been sold for over $350,000, and is fairly well covered with hand- 
some residences, public buildings and large factories. This is 
mentioned as one of the causes leading to the large influx of popu- 
lation which has occurred since 1884, giving Fort Smith in 18 93 
about 15,000 souls. Other causes which have contributed to the 
same have been the building of railroads to Paris, Tex., 
Coflfeyville, Kan., Greenwood, Ark., and Mansfield, Ark. ; the 
opening of the mammoth semi-anthracite coal fields of which Fort 
Smith is the center ; the partial development of a few of the many 
lines of profitable manufacturing that Fort Smith has peculiar 
advantages for, and the constantly increasing agricultural popula- 
tion in Western Arkansas and the Indian Territory, which is 
almost exclusively tributary to the wholesale trade of Fort Smith. 



Fort Smith, Arh. 5 

COMMERCIAL. 

The five important factors in the growth and development of 
an inland city are: 1. Its situation with reference to an agri- 
cultural country. 2. The absence of rival distributing points. 
3. Transportation facilities. 4. Manufacturing advantages. 
5. Desirability as a place of residence. 



AGRICULTURAL SURROUNDINGS. 

Fort Smith's tributary agricultural country consists of West- 
ern Arkansas and the Indian Territory. Western Arkansas land 
is of two kinds, the valley and river bottoms being one kind, and 
the hill and mountain lands the other. The former are almost 
entirely alluvial and are very fertile, producing cotton and corn 
abundantly. The latter produces wheat, oats, hay, potatoes and 
fruits and berries in good quantity. The quality of these products 
can be judged from the fact that the premium wheat at the New 
Orleans Exposition came from an Arkansas upland farm, fifty 
miles from Fort Smith, and Arkansas apples have carried off first 
prizes in all contests of the past five years from Boston to Califor- 
nia. The Indian Territory farm lands are generally prairie and 
river valleys and yield cotton and the cereals equally well. The 
acreage in cultivation in the Territory is increasing marvelously 
each year and is adding steadily to Fort Smith's distributive area. 



EARLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 

There is a fine country in the immediate vicinity of Fort 
Smith for raising Early Vegetables, Berries, Grapes, Melons and 
small fruits. Everyone who has done anything in the way of 
market gardening knows what a difference three or four weeks 
makes in the price of the articles offered for sale. The land along 
the Arkansas River, upon which Fort Smith is located, is the first, 
going South, from Kansas Citj^, where early market gardening for 
shipping can be successfully followed. The seasons at Fort 
Smith, between late spring and early fall frosts, are from five to 
six weeks longer than they are forty miles North of it, and from 
seven to eight weeks longer than at Kansas City. 

The soil and climate are well adapted to the culture of Irish 
and Sweet Potatoes, Cantaloupes, Watermelons, Peas, Sweet 



6 Fort Smith, ArJc. 

Corn, Summer Squash, Salsify, Okra, Carrots, Beets, Kohl Rabi< 
Tomatoes, Onions, Cucumbers, Egg Plant, Peppers, Snap and 
Lima Beans, Strawberries, Dewberries, Blackberries, Peaches, 
Wild Goose Plums, Grapes and Apples. The fact that much 
may be done in the way of gardening in February will give some 
idea of the advantages of this section, A Fruit and Vegetable 
Growers' Association has been established, and good rates and 
refrigerator car service has been secured. There is a good opening 
in this immediate vicinity for men who understand the business. 
Quite a number here with little or no experience in such work are 
engaged in it and doing well. 




BELLE POINT SCHOOL BUILDIN3. 

SUPERIOR LOCATION. 

Fort Smith is particularly fortunate in the absence of rival 
distributing points. Situated on the western boundary line of 
the State, where the Arkansas river breaks through the Boston 
mountains, she occupies the only spot topographically available 
for a large city and easily accessible by railroads along that entire 
border. To the West lies the Indian Territory, a stretch of coun- 
try nearly 400 miles square, and admittedly one of the most fer- 
tile sections of the Union, with Guthrie as the cM>e'f town, a placp 



Fort Smith, Ark. 7 

of 5,000 people, two hundred miles distant. On the North no 
town of over 3,500 people for one hundred and seventy-five miles, 
Springfield, Mo., being the nearest wholesaling point, and Kansas 
City, which is three hundred miles away, the nearest large city. 
On the East, no town of over 2,000 people exists for one hundred 
and sixty- five miles, Little Rock being the nearest wholesaling 
point in that direction, and Memphis, which is some three hundred 
miles from Fort Smith, the nearest city of important size ; and on 
the South, one hundred and seventy-five miles away, isTexarkana, 
the only town of commensurate size, with Dallas as the closest 
large city. 

Leaving aside consideration of the tributary Indian Country, 
which opened to settlement, would of course by itself build its 
supply point into a large city, and leaving aside all account of its 
superior manufacturing advantages, which are of equal importance, 
will not Fort Smith increase in her size and commerce proportion- 
ately with the growth of the surrounding portions of Arkansas, 
now sparsely settled but inviting and beginning to receive the 
great influx of population from the colder and less fertile Northern 
States? And if so, what will her future be when the Indian Ter- 
ritory becomes a State, and her manifold manufacturing ad- 
vantages, have been availed of ? The answers to these questions 
are left to the consideration of those to whom this pamphlet is 
addressed. 



RIVER TRANSPORTATION. 

In the very important matter of transportation facilities, 
Forth Smith is not lacking and the prospects are she would be 
embarrassed with them in the not distant future if such a thing 
were possible. The Arkansas river, on which she is located, is 
navigable for small boats all through the year, and for large 
steamers from the Mississippi for a part of the year. Before the 
advent of the railroads regular packet lines plied between Fort 
Smith and Mississippi river points. The river business is now 
confined to local trade, which has so increased lately as to furnish 
a paying business to three boats owned by the merchants. The 
river transportation gives the city a considerable advantage in the 
matter of keeping railroad freights on heavy goods reasonable. 
Fort Smith, as a river town, being used as a basing point» 



8 Fort Smith, Ark. 

RAILROADS. 

Fort Smith's completed railroads are the Little Rock & Fort 
Smith, Kansas & Arkansas Valley, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe to St. Louis, Mo. ; same system to Paris, Texas and the Fort 
Smith & Mansfield. At Wistar Junction, thirty-five miles south 
of Fort Smith, connection is made with the Choctaw Coal & Rail- 
way Co., now completed sixty-five miles west and being built west 
to Oklahoma. These roads bring the immense gas and coking coal 
fields of the Indian Territory within easy reach of Fort Smith, the 
distance to the nearest mines being only twenty-eight miles. The 
Fort Smith & Mansfield road runs through the immense coal fields 
in the Huntington and Hartford basins in Sebastian county. The 
roads partially built and under construction are the Fort Smith 
& Southern, which within a few months will be completed via 
Nashville, Ark., to Hope, on the Iron Mountain road, from 
whence a road is about completed to Eldorado, Ark,, and is being 
pushed on to Alexandria, La., on the New Orleans & Pacific 
road ; the Texarkana & Northern is completed to Red river, the 
river bridged and fifty miles northward under contract and build- 
ing. This will tap the Fort Smith & Southern at Center Point, 
in Arkansas. These roads will be completed within eighteen 
months and open up to Fort Smith a direct connection with New 
Orleans and Galveston and at no distant day Sabine Pass, fur- 
nishing a market for its coal and manufactured articles, as well 
as pouring into its lap the resources of a wider scope of country 
even than it now has. The Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf is 
now completed to Sulphur Springs, Ark., and pushing rapidly 
south to Fort Smith. This road will place Fort Smith within ten 
hours' travel of Kansas City and open up an immense traflSc in 
fruits, berries and early vegetables, for the cultivation of which 
the country around Fort Smith is so well adapted, as well as 
creating a further demand for coal. The Fort Smith, Paris & 
Dardanelle road has five miles built and the right-of-way secured 
over nearly the whole eighty miles. This will add a large and 
valuable section to Fort Smith enterprise. 

These roads place Fort Smith within easy reach of some of 
the finest timber and mineral regions on the continent and make 
the city one of the best points for a rapid growth into a large and 
prosperous wholesaling and manufacturing city. The contemplated 



Fort Smith, Ark. 9 

roads which have either been surveyed or located, or are now being 
located, are a road south of the Arkansas river to Little Eock, and 
a road branching from the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road at 
Illinois Station, thence west across the Indian Territory to near 
Oklahoma, where it will again branch, running west through 
Guthrie and Oklahoma City. A few moments spent in examining 
the map and tracing the roads referred to will convince the most 
sceptical that Fort Smith's future is already assured, so far as 
railroads running through the finest of agricultural, mineral and 
timber regions and centering here, can assure it. 



MANUFACTURING ADVANTAGES. 

The manufacturing advantages of Fort Smith are unexcelled 
by any point in the country. It has cheap fuel. Water that will 
not injure the boilers. It has competing systems of railroads in 

every direction. It has timber in endless variety and almost 
without limit immediately at its door. The farming country 
is rapidly developing and filling up, while there are but com- 
paratively few with capital to take advantage of the splendid 

manufacturing openings. The manufacturing that is done here 

has grown up among our own citizens and almost exclusively on 

home capital. 

Every factory in Fort Smith is running to the extent of its 

capacity and nearly all of those engaged in manufacturing would 

welcqme others in the same lines. 



MATERIALS FOR MANUFACTURING. 

Many of the raw materials which abound in the country sur- 
rounding Fort Smith are as yet entirely- undeveloped, owing in 
some cases to remoteness from transportation and in more cases 
to lack of time, knowledge and capital on the part of our present 
citizens to investigate them. With the increased railroad facili- 
ties of the lines now building, the first of these causes will be 



10 



Fort Smith , Ark. 



largely removed and the opportunity is open to the reader of this 
pamphlet to benefit himself in the removal of the second. The 
finest soft manganese (pyrolusite) is found in the county south 




--» ifl 




COURT HOUSE AND CHAMBER OF COiVIMthOi^ 

of Fort Smith, and fifcy miles beyond perhaps the largest deposit 
of antimony (stibnite) in the United States is located- The lead 
and zinc ores in the northern part of the State are now being for 
the first time developed and in that section and southwest Missouri 



Fort Smith, Ark. 11 

the mining is already extensive. These ores are mostly being 
shipped to La Salle, 111., for treatment, although Fort Smith, with 
it? cheap and unsurpassed fuel and close proximity affords good 
opportunity for the location of reduction works to handle them. 
Gypsum, marls, chalks and marble, exist in the country tributary 
to Fort Smith, but have never been developed. The above are 
some of the raw materials as yet new and untried. There are 
many whose present supply is unlimited and which can be very 
profitably manufactured at this time in Fort Smith ; among them 
are the numerous clays found in the vicinity of Fort Smith, only 
one or two varieties of which have as yet been utilized. The 
shale-clay, known to geologists as the A.kron shale, which makes 
the best of sewerpipe and paving brick, is found in unlimited 
quantities. From this the brick were made to pave Garrison 
avenue in this city, and a number of streets in other western cities 
are now being paved with brick made of clay from the vicinity of 
Fort Smith. Few realize the value of these clays. Two large 
plants are now running to their fullest capacity in the manufacture 
of paving brick alone, and a third one is now being put in and 
they have orders enough ahead to keep them at work for a year. 
The demand for a good paving-brick is so great and the material 
from which it can be made is found in so few places that this 
industry alone will, from the present outlook, employ one thousand 
men at Fort Smith in a very few years. The analysis of the shale 
used for this purpose, as given by Prof. Branner, State Geologist, 
is as follows : 

Silica 58.43 per ct, 

Alumina 22.50 " 

Oxide of Iron 8.3G " 

Magnesia ... 1.14 " 

Potash 2.18 '' 

Soda 1.03 " 

Sulphur O.u; '• 

Loss on i<2;aitiou 6.87 " 



lOO.OD 



Brick made from this clay and tested at the School of Mines, 
Columbia College, New York City, stood a crushing stress of 170 
tons, or more than 5,500 pounds to the cubic inch, very nearly as 
much as the hardest of granite will stand. 



12 Fort Smith, Ark. 

In the geological survey made of Arkansas prior to 1860, by 
Prof. Owen, these deposits of shale were discovered and com- 
mented upon in the report, Owen says in his work that Arkansas 
is the first State in the Union in valuable shales, and the best of 
the deposits are within sixteen miles of Fort Smith. Fire clay 
and potters' clay are also found, but their location and usefuloess 
have not been so practically demonstrated as the paving brick and 
sewer pipe clays. This is the field for the enterprising brick and 
sewer-pipe maker. Fuel can be had at the minimum price and 
the material for making the product is abundant. The brick will 
bear transportation without loss and are now wanted by the cities 
of Galveston, New Orleans and Memphis in large quantities. 

Besides the clays there are many other abundant materials 
now to be worked at this point. No place offers better openings 
for a cotton factory, wagon factory, stove and hollow-ware foun- 
dries, woollen factory, chair factory, furniture factories, taunery, 
agricultural tools and woodenware, machinery works aad many 
other lines. The citizens have always been ready to oflfer reason- 
able inducements to those who in good faith make business prop- 
ositions, and are now ready to do so. The matter of fuel is treated 
fully under the heading of coal, to which the reader is referred. 



PLACE OF RESIDENCE. 

The last of the factors set forth as necessary to the growth 
of an inland city is its desirability as a place of residence. This 
factor depends in turn on many others, as health, climate, laws, 
schools, morality, society, public conveniences and business 
advantages. All of these items can best be judged of by perso^ial 
visit. Fort Smith claims them all in their best degree, and invites 
your careful investigation of her claims. They are varioasly 
treated of in the following general division of this pamphlet. 



.ipot^T @ giMi'T^H^ @ A^f^.!^ 



DESCRIPTIVE. 

This city is situated on the high bank of the Arkansas and 
Poteau rivers, the lowest part of it being at least 20 feet above 
the highest water mark, the greater part of it from 50 to 75 feet 
above. The surface of the ground is such as to furnish excellent 
natural drainage in every part of it. The corporate line on the 
west is the line between the State of Arkansas and the Indian 
Territory. There is no town of 3,500 inhabitants within one hun- 
dred and sixty five miles of it. The nearest large city north is 
Kansas City, Mo. ; east, is Memphis, and south, Dallas, Texas. 
Its topographical and geographical situation is all that could be 
asked to insure its growth almost independent of other surround- 
ings. In 1880 it had a population of 3,000, which, in 1885, had 
increased to 6,000, and ^ 1893 to 15,000, of which but about 
1,200 are negroes and the percentage of colored inhabitants is 
steadily decreasing. But it is not dependent on its situation, 
alone, which is equal if not s uperior to Kansas City, Mo. , or any 
western city of that cla&s. It is the center of a fine agricultural 
and horticultural section of country, in which the length of season 
is such that with intelligent farming, total crop failures, which so 
often occur in other sections, are virtually impossible. It is also 
the entry to the vast coal fields of Sebastian and Scott counties in 
Arkansas and the Indian Territory, coal mining being carried on 
ranging from ten to fifty miles from the city. It is also the gate- 
way to one of the finest mineral regions immediately south of it, 
where antimony, manganese, fire clay, gypsum and chalk are 
known to abound, and there is good reason to believe that lead, 
zinc and iron will be developed in paying quantities, and it is also 
surrounded with immense forests of valuable timber in almost 
limitless variety. 



14 Fort Smith, Ark. 

HEALTH. 

The following is quoted from a recent report on this subject 
by the Secretary of the Fort Smith Board of Health, a prominent 
physician of many years' practice in the city: '• There are no 
diseases especiall}' peculiar to this city or vicinity. Typhoid 
fever of the kind usual in more northern latitudes is almost un- 
known. We have never had an epidemic of diphtheria nor scar- 
let fever, nor has yellow fever ever made its appearance here, this 
city being out of its zone. This climate is peculiarly favorable to 
chronic pulmonary diseases, the mountains to the north and west 
modifying the severe cold and sudden changes of winter, and the 
period being long in which the j)eople can live in the open air. 
The mortality rate from all causes for the year 1892, was 16 per 
1,000 of population. This was to some extent increased by the 
presence of a large number of witnesses in the criminal cases from 
the Indian Territory tried before the United States Court here, 
who expose themselves to sickness and death by their careless- 
ness ; and to the further fact that cities or towns having a public 
charit}^ hospital, as is the case here, draw a certain number of 
chronic and incurable cases from a large scope of contiguous ter- 
ritory. With an ideal climate, a perfect sewer system, a pure 
water supply, and no local causes for disease, there is no reason 
why Fort Smith should not always rank in point of healthfulness 
among the first cities of America." 

The executions of criminals tried by the United States Court 
(which has jurisdiction over a large part of the Indian Territory, 
and consequently the largest criminal docket in the country), also 
enters into the Fort Smith death rate as given. Fort Smith is as 
healthy as most of the cities of the country, as shown by the cen- 
sus returns. 



CLIMATE 



The climate of Arkansas is not so strictly governed bj' latitude 
as many other parts of the country, from the fact that the ranges 
of hills and mountains materially modify the temperature. There 
can be found greater variation in the thermometer at anj^ given 
hour of the day in Arkansas than in any State where the surface 



Fort Smith, Ark. 



15 



is less broken. The ranges of hills and mountains shelter the 
State from the blizzards of the Northern States and the cold waves 
of the Southwest called northers. 

It is generally supposed by those who have not given the sub- 
ject sufficient attention, that June, July and August, in Arkansas, 
are much hotter than the same months in Wisconsin, and other 
northern States when in point of fact, it is the reverse. The 
northern'summer is short — much shorter tban in the South, but 




DUVAL SCHOOL BUILDING. 

it is much hotter while it lasts, and for that reason vegetation gets 
its required amount of sunshine in a smaller number of daysj Ob- 
servations on temperature made by scientific men since 1819 have 
been preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. They have been 
published from time to time, and submitted by its secretary to the 
Agricultural Bureau and embodied in its reports. From an 
examination of these tables it will be seen that the proposition 
advanced is incontestably true. In one of the reports the fact is 



16 Fort Smith, Ark. 

stated and philosophically accounted for as follows : "For though 
there is absolutely more heat in the latitude of Arkansas during 
the year than in Wisconsin, yet there is more heat received in 
Wisconsin during the three months of midsummer than in Arkan- 
sas at the same time." In the same report, and accompanying 
it, is a table showing the sun's diurnal intensity at every ten 
degrees of latitude. It further says : "On the 15th of June the 
sun is more than 23° north of the equator, and therefore it might 
be readily inferred that the intensity of heat should be greater at 
this latitude than at the equator ; but that it should continue to 
increase beyond this, even to the pole, as indicated by this table, 
might not at first sight appear clear. It will, however, be under- 
stood when it is recollected that, though in a northern latitude, 
the obliquity of the rays is greater and on this account the in- 
tensity should be less ; yet the long duration of the day is more 
than sufficient to compensate for the effect, and produces the 
result exhibited." 

By comparing the daily reports of the weather, as given by 
the press in the summer, it will be readily seen that Fort Smith, 
during the months of June, July and August, averaged a number 
of degrees lower temperatuie than did Saratoga, N. Y. At Fort 
Smith the mean temperature for December, January and February 
is forty-three degrees three minutes, and for June, July and Au- 
gust, seventy-nine degrees one minute. There is but little snow 
or ice. 

Of course, so long a season of warm, genial weather must 
greatly facilitate the labors of the husbandmen. Plowing may be 
done every month in the year. No country furnishes a greater 
number of days in the year in which outdoor work can be per- 
formed. Garden crops are planted early ; potatoes and peas often 
in February, and others in March. The rains are generally 
seasonable and propitious. The winter freezes, being so light, 
only tend to give a mellowness to the soil it would, probably, not 
otherwise possess, and are not of sufficient duration to interfere 
with early and late planting. The climate is conducive to good 
health and longevity. Sunstrokes and headaches, brought on by 
heat, are here unknown. According to health statistics, Arkan- 
sas is entitled to rank high among the other States. 

The following tables of weather will give an idea of our 
temperature and rainfall. 



Fort Smith, Ark 



17 



"From January to June, inclusive, all data are computed fftr 
twelve years, and from July to December, inclusive, for thirteen 
years. Thus the mean temperature for January is the mean for 
that month from 1880 to 1891, inclusive, and that for July, from 
1879 to 1891, inclusive. 



Month. 



January . . . 

Februar}- . . 

March . . . 

April .... 

May .... 

June .... 

July .... 

August . . . 

September . . 

October . . . 

November . . 

December . . 
For Winter 
For Spring 
For Summer 
For Autumn 
For Year . 




Month. 



January 
February . 
March . . 
April . , 
May . . . 
June 

July . . , 
August . 
September 
October 
November 
December 



Average Number of Days. 



Minimum 

Temperature 

Below 32. 



14 



once in 2 years 





• 
3 



Maximum 

Temperature 

Above 90. 



Highest 
Tempera- 
ture. 









once in 12 years 
once in 2 years 

9 
16 
11 

4 









78 
78 
84 
94 
93 
98 
101 
102 
97 
90 
83 
78 



Lowest 
Tempera- 
ture. 



16 
28 
44 
51 
GO 
52 
47 
33 
10 
6 



5 below zero; coldest on record; January 9, 18 86. 



18 



Fort Smith, Ark. 





AVEltAGE NUMBEli DAYS WEATHBK WAS : 


Month. 


Cloud- 
less. 


■PARTLY 

Cloudy. 


Cloudy. 


Rainy 

(.01 INCH 
OR MOKE). 


January 


10 


9 


12 


11 


February 


8 


s 


12 


10 


INIarch 


11 


y 


11 


11 


April 

May 

Juue 


12 
11 

10 


10 
13 
It 


S 
7 
G 


10 
10 
11 


July 

August 


11 
14 


14 
12 


6 
5 


10 

9 


September 

October 


13 


11 

id 


(i 
5 


7 

7 


November 


13 


8 


9 


9 


December 


11 


9 


11 


9 


The Year 


140 


127 


98 


114 



'•^Percntage of Cloudiness.— January, 54; February, 57; 
March, 51; April, 46; Maj', 45; June, 44; July, 43; August, 
38 ; September, 40 ; October, 36 ; November, 46 ; December, 52 ; 
for the year, 46. 

FROSTS. 

"Earliest date of first killing frost, October 22d ; latest, De- 
cember 4th. Average date of first killing frost, November 12th. 

"Earliest date of last killing frost, February 23d ; latest, 
April 14th. Average date of last killing frost, March 19th. 



WIND. 

'■^Pfevailing Direction. — January, northwest; February, 
south ; March, northwest ; April, south ; May, south ; June, 
southwest; July, southwest; August, northeast; September, 
northeast; October, northwest; November, south; December, 
northwest ; for the year, south. 

"F. H. Clarke (U. S. Weather Bureau), 
^''Assistant Director Arkansas Weather Service." 

The farming season in the region around Fori Smith is at 
least five weeks longer than in the mountain or northern counties, 
not more than fifty miles distant. It is not necessar}' in the sum- 
mer season to make a long trip north to find a change of temper- 
ature. In most parts of the State, by traveling a few miles, a 
change may be found by going to the mountain ridges, where 



Fort Smith, Ark. 



19 



quite a number of very creditable summer resorts have already 
been established. 

It is the boast of Arkansas that she is free from the extreme 
heat of the South and the extreme cold of the North. The average 
rain fall is 54 inches, and the average temperature, 62 degrees, 
the highest during 1892 being 101 degrees and the lowest 7 
degrees. 




HOWARD SCHOOL BUILDING (COLORED SCHOOL). 



THE LAV^S. 

The general system of Arkansas jurisprudence is good, as 
may be deduced from the fact that the United States has adopted 
its practice in the Indian Territory courts. Our Legislature 
protects the poor man, although it does not oppress nor put 
obstacles in the wa}- of the rich. We append the law relative to 

HOMESTEAD AND OTHER EXEMPTIONS. 

The provisions of the Coustitutiou of tlie State in the matter of 
exemption laws are very liberal. 

Article IX. of the Constitution provides as folloAvs: 



20 Fort Smith, Ark. 

Sec. 2. The personal property of any resident of this State who is 
married or the head of a family, in specific articles to be selected by 
guch resident, not exceeding in value the sum of five hundred dollars in 
addition to his or her wearing apparel and that of his or her family, shall 
be exempt from seizure on attachment, or sale on execution, or other 
process from any court on debt by contract. 

Sec. 3. The homestead of any resident of this State, who is mar- 
ried or the head of a family, shall not be subject to the lien of any judg- 
ment or decree of any court, or sale under execution or other process 
thereon, except sufh as may be rendered for the purchase money or for 
specific liens, laborers' or mechanics' liens for improving the same, or 
for taxes, or against executors, administrators, guardians, receivers, 
attorneys for moneys collected by them and other trustees of an express 
trust for money due from them in their fiduciary capacity. 

Sec. 4. The homestead outside of any city, town or village, owned 
and occupied as a residence, shall consist of not exceeding 160 acres of 
land with the improvements thereon, to be selected by the owner, pro- 
vided the same shall not exceed in value the sum of $2,500, and in no 
event shall the homestead be reduced to less than 80 acres without 
regard to value. 

The Constitution further provides, that if the owner of the home- 
stead dies, it shall vest in the widow and minor children. 

To the resident of the State who is not married, personal 
property in articles to be selected by such resident not exceeding 
$250, in addition to wearing apparel, is exempt from seizure or 
sale under attachment or execution issued out of any court for the 
collection of any debt by contract. It is, however, provided, 
also, that no property shall be exempt from execution for debts 
contracted for the purcllase thereof while in the hands of the 
original purchaser, or from judgments for tort or fraud. 



TAX ATI ON. 



The sensible man in changing his location will always look 
into the matter of taxation, and his choice, other things being 
equal, will be determined in favor of that State where taxation is 
the lightest and best guarded by constitutional limitations. Fort 
Smith, in this, as well as other advantages offered by her, chal- 
lenges comparison. 

The utmost limit of taxation is two and one- half per cent. . 
■end that upon an assessment which does not exceed one third of 
the true value of the property, so that if the full taxing power 



Fori Smith, Ark. 21 

under the Constitution of the State were put in force the total tax 
on true values would only be eighty-three one-hundredths of one 
per cent. This taxing power is limited by the Constitution as 
follows : 

For all State purposes, one per cent. 

For all county purposes, half of one per cent. 

For all city purposes, half of one per cent. 

For all special school taxes, half of one pe\^ cent. 

The latter tax can only be levied in the several school dis- 
tricts in which a majority of the electors vote for it at the annual 
school elections held in the month of May, at a time when there 
is no political election held. At the present time the State tax is 
only half of one per cent., two fifths of which is for school pur- 
poses. It will be noticed that the highest rate that can be 
reached, outside of cities and towns, is one percent., and in cities 
two per cent., outside of the special school tax, which is a volun- 
t&vy tax. This, on the assessment as before stated, would amount 
on the true values outside of the towns to one-third of one per cent. , 
and in cities and towns sixty-seven one-hundredths of one per 
<;ent. The taxes for the present year in Fort Smith are one and 
a quarter per cent., forty-two one-hundredths of one per cent, on 
true values. 



MECHANICS' LIEN LA^A^S. 

Arkansas is not behind her sister States in protecting the 
•mechanic and laborer, as well as the farmer, by laws which secure 
to them payment for work and labor performed or material fur- 
nished, while the Constitution protects the unfortunate debtor 
against the rapacity of the greedy creditor, saving to him his 
homestead and a reasonable amount of personal property where- 
with to protect and care for his family. 

There are two ways in which the mechanic, laborer and 
material man are protected. One is by a law which requires the 
party to give notice to the builder that he is going to do the work 
or furnish the material and the probable cost of such work or 
material. When this is done the builder is justified in withholding 
such amount until he is satisfied that such party has been paid, 
and under the law, becomes surety to the party serving such 
notice, not, however, exceeding the contract price of the building 



22 



Fort Smith, Ark. 



or improvement, upon which the party has a lien under the law^ 
The mechanic, laborer, and material men who have failed to 
give such notice, have still further protection, in this, that the 
builder is required to withhold one-third of the contract price for 
ten days after the completion of said contract, in order that all 
may have a chance to present their claims for work done or ma- 
terial furnished. 

Those who wish to look further into the matter of Arkansas 
law, are referred to Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes. 




BELLE GROVE SCHOOL BULDING. 



SCHOOLS 



There are few, if any, cities of the size of Fort Smith so well 
provided with school buildings and facilities. It has now five 
buildings which, together with the grounds, are worth $170,000. 
Its advantages do not consist alone in its buildings. The school 
system is excellent and the teachers of a high order of talent. 
There are one superintendent and forty teachers employed at an 
aggregate monthly salary of $2,630. 



Fort Smith, ArJc. 23' 

In May, 1884, Congress donated to this city the abandoned 
military reservation, to be sold by the city for the benefit of the 
public schools. This ground was subdivided into about 1,200 
lots, 50x140 feet. Taking the past sales of a part of this property 
as a criterion, it is reasonable to believe that a permanent school 
fund of upwards of $750,000 will be raised, the use of this being 
restricted by an act of the General Assembly for the purpose of 
preserving it as a permanent endowment fund. Properly guarded, 
the interest of this fund will be sufficient for many years to come 
to pay all the expenses of the schools in this city. 

In addition to the public schools there are two convent 
schools — a Lutheran school, commercial college, and several 
private schools. 



MORALITY. 
The record of the newspapers and courts is a testimonial to 
the public and private virtue of the citizens of Western Arkansas. 
Divorces ^nd scandals are proportionately fewer here than in 
most of the other States. It is not only against the law to carry 
concealed weapons, but is an offense against the State, punishable 
by heavy fines and imprisonment to sell a revolver smaller than 
army size or cartridge for one. Games of chance for money are 
forbidden. The sale of any kind of goods, or having a store open 
for trade, except those selling eatables, on Sunday, is a mis- 
demeanor. 



TEMPERANCE. 
With reference to temperance, Arkansas has, in the imagina- 
tion of many, been synonomous with whiskey. A few solid facts 
from the records will convince the fair-minded that such an opinion 
is erroneous. High license and local option is the law in 
Arkansas. Every two years the question of license or no license, 
is submitted at a general election. At the election held in 1892, 
twenty-one counties, containing about 16,000 square miles, gave 
a majority against license. In the remaining 54 counties, in more 
than half of the territory embraced in them, no license can be 
obtained. The vote is by township and wards, and no license- 
can be granted in any township or ward, although in the county 
in which it is located there be a majority for license, unless that 
particular township or ward gave a majority for license. The 



24 Fort Smith, ArJc. 

total majority in the State at that election for license was 34,000, 
in a vote of 33,900 less than was cast for State officers ; 25,000 of 
that majority was given in 18 counties where the colored voters 
are in majority or compose a large portion of voters of the county. 
Again, there have been some seventy special acts passed by the 
Legislature since 1879 prohibiting the sale of liquors within circ- 
les varying from six to twenty miles in diameter, and but five of 
these acts have ever been repealed, covering but about 72 square 
miles, while the territory covered by the seventy acts is about 
3,170 square miles, where prohibition exists by positive enact- 
ments of the General Assembly. The above statement of facts 
makes Arkansas compare favorably with any of the States where 
prohibition is not the law, and with a number where it is. 



CHURCHES. 



In the matter of churches Fort Smith is fairly supplied, 
every prominent denomination being represented by one or more 
churches. 



SOCIETY. 

For a place of its size Fort Smith is wonderfully cosmopol- 
itan. Its population is made up not only of citizens from nearly 
every State in the Union, but from most of the European nations. 
Among the latter the Germans predominate and are excellent cit- 
izens. In politics the city is nearly equally divided, being slightly 
Democratic at the present time. Having been a favorite army 
post for many years, Fort Smith's society has always enjoyed the 
reputation of being cultured and agreeable. 



PUBLIC CONVEINENCES. 
Fort Smith has an excellent sewer system extending over the 
whole city, consisting of twenty- six miles of sewers. The water- 
works has twenty miles of pipe laid. The pressure is so great 
that fire-engines are not use<), the fire apparatus being hose car- 
riages and hook and ladder trucks. The efficiency of the water 
system may best be shown by the fact that during the past three 
j^ears the total loss by fire did not exceed $13,635 00 and that 
every fire was confined to the building in which it originated. 
The city is well lighted by gas and electricity and is perhaps alone 



Fort Smith, Ark. 25- 

in the possession of two complete telephone systems. In addition 
to the foregoing it has nine miles of street railway, the different 
lines of which unite in the business portion and diverge to the 
various residence sections. At present, horse-power is the motive 
force, although the electric equipment is proposed during the cur- 
rent year. 

Fort Smith has one of the handsomest and best equipped 
opera houses in the Southwest, which is visited annually by many 
of the best theatrical attractions in the country, en route to and 
from Texas and other Southern cities. 

Another thing may be considered in this connection. Owing 
to the mildness of the climate it is not necessary to build the 
houses so expensively as in the colder latitudes. Houses, in 
every way suitable to the climate, may be built, counting material 
at the same price, for two-thirds the cost that houses of the same 
dimensions could be built for in the Northern States, for the rea- 
son that much more expensive foundations and other work has to 
be used in those sections to protect the inmates from the extreme 
cold. 

All around the city stone for sidewalks can be obtained from 
an inch to five inches thick, in any sized slabs desired. Sidewalks 
are laid with this stone four feet wide and two inches thick at 
forty-five cents per square yard. 

Excellent building stone can be found in inexhaustible quar- 
ries even within the city limits and can be delivered in all parts 
of the city at from $1 to $1.20 per perch. 



COAL. 

This, perhaps, one of the greatest of civilizers, abounds at 
the very door of the city. The greater part of Sebastian county, 
in which Fort Smith is located, and Scott county, immediately 
south, is underlaid with coal, varying from thirty-two inches to 
.seven feet in thickness. The coal in Sebastian county is found 
and mined within three miles of this city and at various other 
points in the county. The thickest veins now being mined are 
at Huntington, Greenwood and Jenny Lind basins, but equally 
as good basins have been found in other parts of the county not 
yet reached b}' the railroads. This coal is of that peculiar 
character called semi-anthracite. When properly mined it is 
free from sulphur. It is almost smokeless in burning and burns 



M Fort Smith, Ark. 

to an ash nearly as soft as wood ashes. Its analysis shows that 
it contains eighty per cent, of fixed carbon, thus making it in all 
respects equal to and in some respects superior to the best steam- 
producing and domestic coal found in any other section of the 
country. The following is an average analysis of Sebastian 
county coal : 

Fixed Carbon 79.853 

Ash 0.999 

Water , 915 

Sulphur 1 680 

Vol. hydro, carbon 11.553 

Specific gravity, 1.327. 100.000 

Good steam coal from these mines can be laid down at Fort 
rSmith at one dollar per ton. In Scott county, through which 
the Fort Smith & Southern Railroad is now building, are large 
fields of excellent gas and coking coal. In addition to this, in 
the Indian Territory, on the railroad from Fort Smith, Ark., to 
Paris, Tex., there are immense fields of gas and coking coal of 
the finest quality. In these fields there are two veins, each four 
feet thick, forty-two feet apart, dipping at an angle of 30 degrees. 
The nearest mine opened into this coal is about twenty-eight miles 
from the city. The output of coal in Sebastian County alone, 
during the past three years, has increased from 300 tons per day 
in 1890 to 5,000 tons per-day inj^93 and will, within the next 
three years, be more than doubled. 



WHOLESALING AND JOBBING. 

Five years ago but comparatively little jobbing was done in 
the city ; so little, in fact, that drummers from Little Rock and 
Memphis did quite a thriving trade in the city and surrounding 
countrj^ Now neither of those cities make any eflFort for trade in 
this section. There are now in t he city four exclusively whole- 
sale groceries, two exclusively wholesale dry goods houses, one 
wholesale boot and shoe house, one wholesale clothing house, one 
■exclusively wholesale hardware house, two wholesale liquor 
houses, one wholesale drug house, one wholesale crockery house, 
having a capital of upwards of a million dollars. In addition to 
these, there are twelve other establishments, the business of which 
is largely in the jobbing line. The field for this kind of business is 
almost limitless, and is constantly growing. The Indian country 
lis rapidly settling up. There are already upwards of four times 



Fort Smith, Ark. 



27 



as many whites as Indians in the Territory, and it will doubtless 
be opened fully to settlement within five years. The new rail- 
roads being built will add very largely to the Territory legitimately 
belonging to the Fort Smith merchants. This class of business 
need only be limited by the amount of capital invested in it and 
the enterprise with which it is pushed. It has more than doubled 
within the past year and is steadily and rapidly increasing. 




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